Wexford county football team
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| Sport: | Football | ||
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| Irish: | Loch Garman | ||
| Nickname(s): | The Model men[1] The Slaneysiders[2] The Yellowbellies[3] | ||
| County board: | Wexford GAA | ||
| Manager: | Shane Roche | ||
| Captain: | Ben Brosnan | ||
| Home venue(s): | Wexford Park, Wexford | ||
| Recent competitive record | |||
| Current All-Ireland status: | Leinster (QF) in 2020 | ||
| Last championship title: | 1918 | ||
| Current NFL Division: | 4 (4th in 2020) | ||
| Last league title: | None | ||
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The Wexford county football team represents Wexford in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Wexford GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Leinster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.
Wexford's home ground is Wexford Park, Wexford. The team's manager is Shane Roche.
The team last won the Leinster Senior Championship in 1945, the All-Ireland Senior Championship in 1918 and has never won the National League.
Crest and colours[]
Wexford sporting colours are purple and gold. This iconic choice was made in 1913 before using the colours of county champions clubs[4] Disposal of the colours is changed during the year, being the traditional kit mostly gold with a purple horizontal half. Since the 1990s purple has gained more importance and has been used in sleeves and with gradients. The current kit is mainly purple with golden trims.
The crest has been changed several times. Until 1996, the team used Wexford Town's traditional crest (three burning wooden ships) then they adopted the new county's coat of arms. Since 2006, Wexford GAA launched their own logo, used also on the jerseys.
Kit evolution[]
       Classic kit
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     c. 2014
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Team sponsorship[]
![[icon]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/20px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by . (June 2021) |
Zurich Insurance Group sponsored the team on a four-year deal from 2020, following an announcement in October 2019.[5]
History[]
Wexford had one of the greatest football teams in the history of the GAA in the 1910s, winning six consecutive Leinster titles and the first team to win four All-Ireland titles in a row.[6] The team was trained by 1900 star James 'the Bull' Roche, who had fought for the World heavyweight boxing championship. The team featured Fr Ned Wheeler, Aidan Doyle and the O'Kennedy brothers, Gus and Sean. The latter was the team captain. The feat of six Leinster titles in a row was only equalled in 1931 when Kildare won the sixth in a sequence that began in 1926.[7]
Wexford's last major football success was winning the Leinster title in 1945. From then on, hurling took precedence in Wexford and as a consequence the Wexford footballers suffered, with the team descending into obscurity for many years. More recently, Wexford have had a strong team. The team reached the Division 1 League final of 2005 under the management of Pat Roe but were beaten by a strong Armagh team that day.
In April 2008, in Jason Ryan's first year as manager of the team, Wexford beat Fermanagh to win the Division 3 League final. This proved to be the first success of what would be a historic year for Wexford football, as they reached their first Leinster final in over 50 years. Along the way they stunned Meath by coming from ten points down to win their quarter-final in Carlow, and then beat Laois comprehensively in the semi-final. This was Wexford's 5th consecutive appearance in the provincial semi-final, but their first victory. In the final they were comprehensively beaten by a strong Dublin team, 3–23 to 0–09.
However, Wexford recovered from their humiliation and came through the back door, beating Down by seven points in a shock result to reach the last eight and a match-up with Armagh. From here, they produced one of the shocks of the championship, winning by 1–14 to 0–12 to reach their first All Ireland semi-final since 1945. They were beaten by 6 points by Tyrone, having been within two points of the eventual champions in the closing stages.
Wexford again reached the Leinster final in the 2011 Leinster Championship. Wexford had an easier run to the final than in 2008, facing Offaly, Westmeath and Carlow. In the final they faced Dublin again, but ran them much closer. A poor performance from Dublin's star player Bernard Brogan helped Wexford stay in touch with Dublin throughout the match, but a bizarre own goal meant they ultimately lost by 2–12 to 1–12, to the team that went on to win the All-Ireland.[8][9] Wexford entered Round 4 of the qualifiers where they faced Limerick, but they were beaten by a single point, on a score of 1–18 to 1–17.
Kildare native Paul McLoughlin was named as manager in 2017.[10]
Paul Galvin briefly managed Wexford during 2019 and 2020 before moving away mid-season during the COVID-19 pandemic; his selector Shane Roche was appointed on an interim basis.[11] Galvin never actually managed the team in a championship game.[12]
Current squad[]
Team as per Wexford vs Wicklow in the 2020 Leinster SFC quarter-final, 1 November 2020
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Current management team[]
- Manager: Paul Galvin (resigned)
- Selector: Shane Roche (interim manager)
Players[]
Notable players[]
Records[]
- Mattie Forde is the team's top scorer in National Football League history and finished his career fourth in the all-time list (one point behind Offaly's Tony McTague). As of 2021, David Tubridy of Clare had pushed Forde into fifth place and Conor McManus of Monaghan was three points behind Forde (McManus was still involved and his team had a relegation play-off at the time this record was published).[13]
All Stars[]
- 2004: Matty Forde
Most appearances[]
 | This list is incomplete; you can help by . (March 2021) |
- David Murphy played for Wexford until 2013, when he retired with 180 caps, making him his county's most experienced player of all-time.[14]
Honours[]
- All-Ireland Senior Football Championships: 5
- 1893, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918
- All-Ireland Junior Football Championships: 1
- 1992
- Leinster Senior Football Championships: 10
- 1890, 1893, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1925, 1945
- Leinster Minor Football Championship: 3
- 1937, 1950, 1969
- Leinster Junior Football Championship: 8
- Leinster Under-21 Football Championship: 1
- 2011
References[]
- ^ "Team news: Wexford show hand for Carlow clash". Hogan Stand. 28 May 2021.
Having lost out to Waterford on opening weekend, the Model men will be in search of their first win of the campaign when they welcome their neighbors[sic] to Wexford Town.
- ^ "Slaneysiders dig deep to claim extra-time win". Irish Examiner. 13 July 2013.
- ^ "Laois quench fire in the Yellowbellies". Irish Examiner. 8 April 2013.
- ^ "GAA County Colours". Archived from the original on 28 September 2015.
- ^ "We are very proud of our close association with GAA in Wexford". Hogan Stand. 11 May 2020.
- ^ Wexford Four in a Row Archived 20 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Smith, Raymond (1968). "Chapter 4 – Wexford's Four-in-a-row". The Football Immortals. Dublin: Bruce Spicer Ltd. pp. 50–61.
- ^ O'Riordan, Ian (11 July 2011). "Final cut is cruel as Wexford's own goal is decisive". The Irish Times.
- ^ Murphy, Cian (10 July 2010). "Gilroy happy to survive on rare Brogan offday". Irish Independent.
- ^ "Wexford name Paul McLoughlin as new football manager". RTÉ Sport. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
- ^ "Relocated Galvin steps away from Wexford role". RTÉ Sport. 15 September 2020.
- ^ "How GAA managers have changed the landscape of the game". RTÉ Sport. 14 December 2020.
The record for shortest tenure as manager this year surely goes to Paul Galvin who was in charge for a grand total of zero championship games before walking out of the Wexford football job, citing time and travel commitments as the reasons behind his unexpected decision.
- ^ "Banner hero David Tubridy already has more history in his sights after becoming highest league scorer of all time". Irish Independent. 1 June 2021.
- ^ "David Murphy and Redmond Barry retire from Wexford football". RTÉ Sport. 13 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
- ^ "Leinster JFC final: Model men stun Royals with last-gasp goal". Hogan Stand. 25 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
- ^ "Leinster JFC final: nice Wee win for Model". Hogan Stand. 21 June 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
- Wexford county football team